Flora Fling's Filings

Summer Escapes

The summer is escaping me. Its almost July and I haven't enjoyed much of it. I see the ladies on the street in their summer skirts, dresses and sandals and its all I can do to force myself not to wear jeans to work (again).

I want to go on coffee dates and let my sexy summer high heel dangle flirtatiously from my toe as I sip my latte across the table from my date. I want to take leisurely walks in the park. I want to drink fruity cocktails with my girfriends and feel the warm breeze at a sidewalk bar.

I want to be treated to a date at Jefferson in the West Village.  I want to see an outdoor movie. I want to go to the beach and feel the warm sun on my skin. I want to walk the boardwalk in Coney Island. I want to see the Brooklyn Cyclones play a ball game for $13 for field box seats.

I want to visit Governor's Island just because I never have.  I want to see the Bodies exhibit.

I want to spend Sunday afternoons on Pearl.

I want idle time and an unscheduled life, just for now.

Listmaker

Its Sunday morning. Its 10:50am and I already went grocery shopping. I love the quietness of my hood on weekend mornings. I was the only one on the street, dragging my Russian Cadillac (aka cart) behind me.

On the way back, I stopped for my usual cafe latte to go at the local cafe. Now I'm home with some blaxsploitation tunes on my CD player, sipping on my latte. This will put me in the mood to start packing and get things done today.

I'm a listmaker. I get this quality from my father. Lists are the way I feel organized about my life. Its a "checks and balances" method and makes me feel like my life is moving forward because I have things to do. I scribble them everywhere, on post-its, notepads, in emails to myself. Sometimes I put things on the list that I've already completed, just so I can marked them "completed."

Today's list is ambitious, but necessary. I have to begin packing for my trip to Vietnam that I am taking for 10 days with my best friend Toan. (!!!) So I am gathering a random messy pile of things on my kitchen table that I will need on my trip. I add to the pile as I think of them. Preliminary stream-of-consciousness packing - Ambien, tampons, toilet paper, ear plugs, camera, batteries. I dragged my suitcase up from the basement.

Then I will clean my bike, mop and sweep my apartment and get clean sheets ready for my bed. I love coming home from a trip to a clean apartment and fresh sheets. Ahhhh!!

The Lottery

I was fantasizing about what I would do if I won the lottery. I am a practical person and rarely indulge myself but let's just suppose......

1) I would quit my job immediately. I wouldn't even give notice. I'd just be like "see ya!"

2) My new job would be managing my money.

3) I would pay off all my debt (see? practical).

4) I would pay off the debt of loved ones, including close friends.

5) As per grocery shopping post, I would hire ex-boyfriend as full time chef.

6) I would give my hairdresser some sort of yearly salary and have my hair blown out three times a week (if I felt like it, otherwise, he could just be on standby).

7) I would have my dad and stepmother retire and buy them whatever they want to occupy themselves during retirement.

8) I would buy my brother and sister-in-law a house.

9) Oh yeah, I would buy myself some serious f*cking real estate, New York and otherwise.

10) I would buy Ex-boyfriend a new car (not chef ex, another ex).

11) I would make extensive travel plans and travel the world until I was so homesick I wanted to die. (I would not buy NY real estate until I traveled myself to death).

12) I would train, train, train.

13) I would hire a personal stylist. I hate shopping unless I'm really in the mood.

14) I would have permanent car service while living in NY (though you can't beat the trains during rush hour).

15) I would indulge friends who have been kind to me when I've been broke and they've been rolling in the dough. Cars? Trips? They name it, they got it!

16) I would get facials, massages, mud baths, spa treatments until I was sick to death of it (just like travel).

17) I would pay a friend a lot of money to teach me how to catch a football properly (with all my spare time). Scratch that! I'd hire a pro!

18) I would become a philanthropist.

19) I would hire an assistant so I wouldn't have to do tedious errands like picking up dry cleaning.

My list can't end with dry cleaning.....!?!?! that's so mundane!

Wrappin' Up 2005

I like to recap my year each December. I find if I don't then the entire year gets tainted by whatever happened at the end of the year. And this year would be listed under the "stinks" category if I didn't look all the way back through my calendar, back to January.

So my accomplishments in no particular order:

1) I conquered 99.9% of my insomnia.

2) I worked successfully on a $500,000 event project.

3) I did three triathlons and came in 4th in my age group for one of them.

4) I did 8 running races.

5) I fell in love.

6) I survived the heart wrenching breakup.

7) I gave up SIDs (ok, this was the hardest and should be listed as #1).

8) I started and stuck to Bikram yoga (the hardest/hottest thing I ever did athletically, harder than triathlon).

9) I fulfilled a HUGE sexual fantasy.

10) I led my football team to the playoffs TWICE with a 6-1 season record both seasons.

11) I got an AMAZING bonus at work.

12) I finally (finally!) let a few old issues go.

13) I learned to be spend time alone again (and I like it).

14) I developed a relationship with my couch (No Snuggles, I'm not cleaning my apartment ALL the time).

14) I started a blog and stuck to it!

Things about me...

1. I like.....watching Bette Davis movies
2. I like coming home from a hard triathlon training session on the weekend, to lay my *ss on the couch with the entire day ahead of me to do jack sh*t if I feel like it
3. I love dining with my best friend Toan
4. Occasionally I blast my vinyl records and dance around the house like I'm in a music video
5. I enjoy a nice, candle lit bath alone
6. Petting a feline is something I don't do often enough
7. I like reading before bed
8. I will brunch at the same cafe, eating the same meal every single time for months and months until I get sick of it
9. Sauteed mushrooms (yum!)
10. I always eat at Luby's as soon as possible upon arriving in Houston
11. Speaking Italian is something I'm passionate about but rarely get to do

12. I LOVE a damn, good cocktail

13. Listening to sportscasters color comment a game as a soundtrack to cleaning my apartment relaxes me

14. I love a blissful buzz

15. A guy that thinks I'm sexy and tells me so turns me on

16. I like checking out a new exhibit at the museum

17. Seeing Rocco and His Brothers on the big screen is one of my greatest cinematic pleasures

18. I love the smell of fresh, clean sheets

19. I love the smell of cilantro

20. I find tall men sexy

21. I have an uncanny memory for details about a person's life

22. Photographs mean a lot to me....they document my life

23. I find as I get older, I become stubborn about certain things

24. Upon meetings someone, the first thing I notice is their teeth. I'm a sucker for people with nice teeth

25. I speak very emphatically. People take what I say as the bible (I should've been a politician)

26. If it weren't for the empty calories and the hangover, I'd be an alcoholic in a heartbeat

27. I love frozen Kettle One Vodka

28. When I was a kid, I met every single member of the band "The Monkees"

29. John Schneider from "The Dukes of Hazzard" was my very first crush

30. I got hooked on triathlon because of an ex-boyfriend whom I left

31. There is a part of my personality that is an alarmist

32. I love eating eel with cucumber sushi

33. I like taking people with emotional potential on as projects

34. I have been an insomniac and am paranoid that I will be for the rest of my life

35. I am loyal in relationships to a fault

36. I love going to therapy because someone is being paid to listen to me talk about myself

37. I am materialistically low-maintenance, but emotionally high-maintenance

38. I am lousy at the social co-ed touch football I play but still hold on to that "TD" dream (its gonna happen this season!!)

39. My mind thinks three steps ahead of the average person

40. Many of my boyfriends have been Italian (not Italian-American)

41. I feel lucky to have had life affirming experiences

42. My mother died when I was 16 (this was not a life affirming experience)

43. I once felt a tiny lump in my breast at my gynecologist's office and felt true fear for the first time in my life